Annakarinaland

2010-03-31

White Rabbit is a ballad about the hypocrisy of the American"establishment" and the disenchantment of the 60's. This is Grace Slick's song and lyrics, with riveting musical accompaniment by the other band members of the Jefferson Airplane. Slick takes to task in this chanson one of the classics of children's literature. She is amazed how parents could read to their young children "The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland" that reads like a surrealistic adventure not unlike an acid trip and still criticize the rebellion of youth during this time.

White Rabbit retells the story of Alice who grows taller - expands her mind and smaller - lack of power, and who envisions all kinds of magical creatures. It can also be seen as an allegory of American youth who were lost during the Vietnam War. Some went down rabbit holes and died and others protested. (Tell 'em a hookah smoking caterpillar has given you the call). There has been no similar student movement since. After the turmoil, a middle class was created and silenced by consumerism. This was a battle cry to reconnect with mind and heart.

Slick's version of Alice is a box within a box. Just as everything is confusing to Alice and she distorts what she sees, she also becomes a distortion for readers. In Slick's rendition of the story she calls the Queen of Hearts “The Red Queen “(she is after all as red as the hearts, but has no heart). The "White Knight talking backwards" evokes the double speak of the time when war was rampant but was forged in the name of peace on earth. When "Men on the chessboard get up and tell you where to go", this was the power of the presidency to initiate unilateral military intervention. Other examples were the disruption of the civil liberties of American citizens.

The dormouse in Lewis Carroll's "The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland" (1865) could not remember anything but probably would have if he had time to think, to learn, to improve his mind and slow down. Slick's ballad indeed spoke to a numbed part of American society that watched an infamous war continue. The mesmerizing White Rabbit is a battle cry for awakening. Student protests and civil liberation movements grew exponentially during this time. Corrupt forces of the status quo include the Johnson administration installed after Kennedy’s assassination, which pounded Vietnam with bombs. The futility of this military venture led many young people to "drop out", " sit in", burn their draft cards, and expand their consciousness in news ways of living that invigorated the culture with color, flowers, poetry, music, film and art. For some, the experimentation of psychedelic drugs to reach the fourth dimension was part of the journey. For others they were catapulted to it through poetry and protest.

Drugs are not what all the song is about, and it is limited to see it only as that. If one was unclear about whether to protest during this time, Slick says, "Go ask Alice" who she thinks should know that "logic and proportion had fallen slowly dead" in American society. The chessboard, the battlefield for white and black Kings, Queens, bishops, knights, rooks and pawns symbolize the military industrial complex of American society in the 60's.

White Rabbit is a Freedom Song, a rally call to transcend the patriarchal order of the time and enter the world of creativity and knowledge. Slick’s final message spoken through the Dormouse is a response to the beheading of Mary Queen of Scots by her cousin Elizabeth I - after a conspiracy of deception and treachery - “feed your head” - improve your mind and become aware.

Why should the FBI have this song out on their list of subversive music? ..."You'd laugh so hard you'd crack the walls!" The drug metaphors kept Grace Slick out of the White House when she ironically was invited to a (Mad Hatter) tea party. Could it have also been because Slick often performed in a green girl scout uniform to provoke the "decent people" of America? Or her solidarity with civil rights included painting her face in black and raising her fist on national television was too provocative?

The bravado of the Jefferson Airplane marching in time to Slick’s slick phrasing with drums, lyrical guitars and then solid soul piercing base tones, builds in momentum into a riveting and masterly mosaic of energy. Each stage of the journey is related in the cadence of a Spanish bolero with castanets, drums and electric guitars. Slick sticks to clear and powerful phrasing as she explains the need to get smart like Alice, or else. Although the "white rabbit" is not referred to in the song other than in the title, he is a messenger, for without him Alice would never have seen her own reality above ground.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is directed by Nils Arden Oplev (Denmark). Typically Swedish winter nature scenes with wildlife are beautiful but the tone of the film is dark and chilling. The editing and art direction are skillfully executed in a fast paced drama for a Swedish film. For Bergman fans, veteran actors from Ingmar Bergman's stable have minor roles: Eva Fröing, Gunnel Lindblom and Lena Endre, looking slightly out of place in the 21st century.

Noomi Rapace, an excellent up and coming Swedish actor, plays the main character Lisbeth Salander who sports nose rings, earrings, tattoos, black duds, piercings and short hair cut strategically to hang over one eye, and who engages in frantic chain smoking and drives a huge motorcycle. For her role as Salander, Rapace won best actress at the National Swedish Awards.

Lisbeth Salander is an expert hacker sent to investigate journalist Mikael Blomqvist (Mikael Nyqvist) who has been indicted on charges of slander against a Swedish industrial tycoon. In the meantime before trial Mikael is recruited by the head of the wealthy Vanger family to find the grand uncle’s niece who has been missing for years. Salander later assists Mikael Blomqvist and turns up answers to a mystery he can’t really see.

Lisbeth’s past serves as the foundation for the subterranean issues of sexual violence that rip through the surface of the film, and motivate the Swedish tile. In several visceral scenes Lisbeth confronts predators with force. The pace of the film is captivating, especially when Lisbeth Salander is on the screen.

Michael Nyqvist praises the film because just a computer, a cell phone and asking a few questions solves the mystery. (Listen to interview with Michael Nyqvist on Movie Magazine International, San Francisco March 17th). He also thinks it was cowardly not to keep the original Swedish title.

There are two more novels and two more films in the works with Lisbeth Salander, a character inspired by Stieg Larsson’s own niece. Getting Lisbeth right was crucial and Rapace pulls it off brilliantly. The interaction between Rapace and Nyqvist takes a while to get into since they are such an odd couple. Nyqvist said that they didn't speak in between scenes in order to be able to focus on their roles in the narrative. He is not up for sequels or prequels after the three films, its not his thing he says. But there is going to be a Hollywood version of the film anyway,